E28: The Patient Art of Getting Better

Have you ever wondered how ancient healing practices might complement modern beauty treatments? Dr. Meghan Peckinpaugh's journey from serious illness to becoming a holistic health practitioner offers powerful insights into the true nature of healing.

Dr. Meghan founded Balanced Thistle in Fort Collins back in 2019, pioneering holistic health and beauty services in Northern Colorado. Her clinic was the first in the region to offer gua sha facials, harnessing traditional Chinese medicine techniques that would later become beauty world sensations. But what makes her approach truly special is the deep understanding that beauty and wellness are inseparable - "we age from the inside out," as she aptly puts it.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Dr. Meghan explains how acupuncture works by shifting our bodies from the constant fight-or-flight mode of modern life into a restorative parasympathetic state where healing can actually happen. This perspective challenges our quick-fix culture with her candid admission that true healing requires patience: "It took me three years to feel better and five to feel good." While specializing in women's health concerns like fertility and menopause, Balanced Thistle has also developed unique expertise in jaw pain treatment that not only relieves discomfort but creates natural facial sculpting effects - a perfect example of their health-meets-beauty philosophy.

Whether you're curious about holistic alternatives to conventional medicine or looking to enhance your wellness journey, discover how Balanced Thistle's supportive, non-pushy approach might be exactly what you need. Check out their website at https://www.balancedthistle.com/ or follow their educational content on Instagram to learn techniques you can use at home. What health or beauty concerns might benefit from this integrated approach to wellness?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a reputableand established holistic health
and beauty company?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good, good
neighbor, dr Megan Peckinpah,with Balanced Thistle.
Dr Megan, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Good, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good.
We're excited to learn allabout you and your business.
Tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
We opened Balanced Thistle in an independent clinic
space in Fort Collins in 2019.
We started doing justacupuncture and we brought in.
We were the first people inNorthern Colorado offering a gua
sha facial, which is kind oflike a classic facial and that
you're cleansed and steamed.

(00:59):
But that gua sha stone that youknow hit the beauty world by
storm a few years ago istraditional Chinese medicine.
So we were the first people inNorthern Colorado offering that
facial, that service, and thenfrom there we've added more
facials that are holisticallybased, quite a bit more
functional medicine services andwe just keep plugging along

(01:20):
with holistic health and beauty.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
along with holistic health and beauty.
How did you get into thisbusiness?
I started out my undergrad, youknow, I grew up in Colorado.
I went to CSU and thought I wasgoing to be a doctor.
It went differently than Ianticipated Initially.
I got really, really sick in incollege and ended up seeing an
acupuncturist who completelychanged my life.
So ended up in grad school foracupuncture and then did another

(01:47):
program in functional medicineand then just opened a business
and went with it.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
What are some myths or misconceptions in your
industry?

Speaker 3 (01:59):
I mean, acupuncture is a little bit strange.
In general, I feel like peoplekind of wonder how it works and
that in reality we don't evenhave a full explanation of how
it works Scientifically.
Anyway, what I see is, you know, we're a go go go society.
We're living in this fight orflight sympathetic nervous

(02:22):
system and the body has reallyincredible innate abilities to
heal, but we're going all thetime and it never gets the
opportunity to do so.
So when people receiveacupuncture, their body actually
takes a little bit of time inthe parasympathetic nervous
system which is our rest anddigest, and when it's able to
rest it can kind of like checkin with itself.

(02:44):
What's going on, what needs myattention?
You know, what can we work onto just help us feel better?
That's a huge part of why Ithink acupuncture is so
beneficial for so, so manydifferent things.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Who are your target customers right now and how do
you attract them?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
and how do you attract them?
I mean, most of our people cometo us via word of mouth.
We work primarily in women'shealth, so we see a lot of
fertility, menopause, pcos,endometriosis and then a lot of
the classic stuff migraines.
We all have a lot of advancedtraining in jaw pain, which is

(03:27):
kind of a unique little offshootfrom what we do, because jaw
pain and I should say the way wetreat jaw pain can have a lot
of sculpting and lifting effecton the face.
So we got into jaw work via allthe aesthetic work we do and
then it just turned into peoplebeing like, wow, my jaw feels so
much better and I've beenclenching for 20 years.
So we work with primarily women, but we see a lot of husbands.

(03:51):
That's usually how men find us,is their wife is already here.
And we work in all age groups.
I did my internship atChildren's Hospital of Orange
County so I've got a handful ofpediatric patients even and you
know we're a general familypractice but I would say we
really shine in women's healthconcerns.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Outside of work.
What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3 (04:13):
I have a one and a three year old, so I'm pretty
busy.
They are so much fun.
We you know it's summertime,we're doing a lot of gardening
right now and our family youknow my husband and I both love
to cook, so we're always cookingwith our kids.
It's just like an activity thatfills time and we spend a lot
of time, you know, out inLivermore we have a family cabin

(04:35):
out there that we spend timethere Just kind of, I think,
probably in that time of lifewhere we're just hanging out
with little kids, yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
So let's switch gears .
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you
overcame and how it made youstronger?
What comes to mind?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
I mean the entire process of getting into
acupuncture, how I went frombeing pre-med at CSU, graduating
doing something totallydifferent and then going back to
grad school to do acupunctureschool, to do acupuncture.

(05:12):
I was really unwell and Ialways tell people, you know, we
call patients a patient for areason.
It takes time to truly heal,which is really really hard when
we're kind of used to like addto cart it's on our doorstep in
a day or two.
But patients need to embracepatients and I always tell
people when I got so sick ittook me three years to feel
better and five to feel good.
So that determination, I think,has really helped me explain

(05:37):
what the process is in thepatients I work with.
What kind of work is requiredto truly heal yourself,
depending on the concern, it'snot typically a quick thing.
We're not a pill.
You move on, you treat thesymptoms.
But if you want to dig deep andcorrect some stuff going on in
your physical health, it works.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Please tell our listeners one thing that they
should remember about balancedthistle thing that they should
remember about.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Balance Thistle.
You know we're kind of like aone-stop shop.
We run a lot of functionalmedicine labs and we offer both
the health and beauty because inour perspective, you know, we
age from the inside out, soaddressing your health is an
important component of any ofyour.
You know aesthetic goals, butessentially just you know we're

(06:36):
here to support people's goals.
It's not we're here to guide,but we're not here to do it for
people.
We're here to help withoutbeing pushy.
We're here to present options.
You know, like you want to beon the birth control or you
don't.
Why?
What are your options, what arethe side effects, what are the
pros, what are the cons?
We try and be really, reallyhonest, but also from the

(06:59):
perspective of truly supportingthe goals of the person we're
sitting and having theconversation with.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Megan, how can our listeners learn more about
Balance Thistle?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
I mean, there's always our website, just
balancethistlecom.
We're pretty active on socialmedia.
Our Instagram handle is balancethistle.
We're a little bit goofy and wedon't love social media, but we
do get it done and we try toeducate from that platform, give
people information that theycan use at home if they're not
in our office.
So I'd say those are probablythe two best bets is just the

(07:34):
internet, social media.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, Megan, I really appreciate you being on our
show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tognpfortcollinscom.
That's gnpfortcollinscom, orcall 970-438-0825.